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Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for enemy
Your enemy. Who do you hate more than them? No one. So who better to direct your holiday rage towards than that pitiful excuse for a human. Sure, it's a gift, but with the selections we've picked out, the target of your scorn will wish they'd gotten something as useful as a stocking full of coal. This is the moment to unleash that torrent of backed up anger from a season of crowded malls, annoying caroling, and an ever-shrinking bank statement. Let Engadget guide you through the valleys of dislike, and bore you up onto the mountain peaks of loathing and execration. And when you're done with this hate-bath, don't forget to check into our other, less nasty guides right here!
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for colleague
The colleague: one of the more difficult people in your life to buy a present for come holiday season. You might not know them as well as your family, but you likely spend an inordinate amount of time with them. Luckily that means you're more familiar with their work habits than most, so you're in a unique position to nab them a gift that not only expresses how you feel about your friendship, but is also something they can actually use. And that -- of course -- is where we come in. The Engadget Holiday Gift Guide is here to quell your fears of office discomfort, and lead you to the promised land of co-worker gift satisfaction. Read on for the full rundown, and don't forget to check out our other guides right here!
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for dad
Ah, dear old dad. Chances are, this is the guy who got you interested in gadgets in the first place, so what better time to repay the favor? Now, shopping for the old man isn't quite what it used to be -- you can't just get away with a few power tools or some Stones tickets (well, actually, those probably still work). Your dad is a pretty savvy dude, and even though he's set in his ways, we're pretty sure he'd like some new tech to toy with this holiday season. That's where we come in. Engadget makes buying a gift for your dad less of a chore and more of a pleasure, so you can leave time for the important things... like mixing that next drink. Read on for our picks, and be sure to check out all the guides right here!
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for mom
You know that no matter what gift you end up getting for your mom, she'll love you just the same. Still, it would be totally bodacious to get her the kind of present she'll really be over the moon about, right? When it comes to gadgets and moms, there's not a ton of crossover, so unless she's a hardcore geek, tech shopping can be a minefield. That's where the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide comes in, of course. Let us take all the pain and worry out of your shopping experience, so you can focus on the important things -- like calling your mother when you say you will. Read on for all the goods, and don't forget to check out all the other guides right here!
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for daughter
What's more challenging than buying a tech gift for your finicky son? Buying one for your ultra-picky daughter. It's tough enough just raising a daughter who's a nerd, let alone knowing exactly what direction to go come present-presenting season. Luckily for you gadget-savvy (or not so gadget-savvy) moms and dads out there, the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide exists, and will transport you to the magical phantasmagoria of money-sucking goodness that we like to call "shopper's delight." Read on for all the info (and be sure to check out our other guides right here).
WoW Insider's 2008 holiday gift guide
Yes, it's that time of year again -- the lights are up around town, the weather is cold and snowy, and you've got a long list of nice (and maybe even some naughty) people who will need gifts this year. But what will you get? If anyone on your list is a Warcraft player, worry not: WoW Insider has compiled a list of ten Nintendo Sixtyfoooooooour-level gifts for the Warcraft player in your life, five out-of-game and five in-game.Whether they're level 10 or level 80, odds are that they'll love any of this stuff, and whether you've got just a little bit of time and/or money to put in or want no expense spared, there's something on this list for you. Click into the gallery below to check out all of the gifts, and be sure to have a happy holiday season -- here's hoping there will be a little something more exciting than coal in that stocking!Looking for non-Warcraft related gamer gifts? Joystiq has up-to-the-minute news on the best holiday deals and tips around for Holidaze 2008. And our friends at Big Download have a nice set of guides up as well, featuring anything and everything you might need for a PC gamer.%Gallery-38276%Winter's Veil is almost here. Watch the 12 Days again, wonder what might be new this year, or settle down with some cocoa and some tasty... bark?
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for son
It's not easy to shop for the kids these days, and it's definitely a major challenge when it comes to finding the right holiday gift for the increasingly tech-savvy young men of the world. In an environment plagued with cheapo USB Crapgadgets and the ever-present possibility of obsoletion before gifting, Engadget is here to help separate the wheat from the chaff (and invoke all other manner of clichés, we hope). Sit back, relax, let your fingers do the walking, and take a chill pill as we cut through the red tape and help you make an informed decision with our Holiday Gift Guide for son. And don't forget to check out our other guides right here!
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for her
Buying tech for your number one lady can be pretty nerve-wracking, especially if she loves gadgets as much as you do, but we're here to help with the latest installment of Endgaget's Holiday Gift Guide. We've tried to keep it hip with the right balance of usability, design, and functionality, but only you know what she really wants -- treat this as a jumping off point and we know you'll do fine.P.S.- Don't forget, we've also got for him and lots of other guides coming up as the days roll by -- they'll all be sorted by suggested recipient and price on the main Holiday Gift Guide page.
Holiday Gift Guide: $1001+
For him Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch - He might gripe about the glossy display or the odd, buttonless trackpad on Apple's latest, high-performance MacBook Pro, but that will only be in between bouts of insane productivity and unbridled creativity. Or World of Warcraft.$1,999 - $2,499+ - Buy from Apple Woody B Internal Combustion Guitar - If his Santana-esque guitar stylings have neighbors about one decibel away from a lynching, this guitar might save some sanity. It sends noise out to an amp and then back into the guitar, where a "coupling mechanism" feeds that sound back to the strings, allowing for low-volume (and relatively low-priced) sustain and feedback. Your battered eardrums offered to chip in. $2,500 - Buy from Woody B Mitsubishi LaserVue 65-inch HDTV - Sure, he'll probably receive anything with "laser" in the name with great enthusiasm, but Mitsubishi's brand new LaserVue TV technology is more than just a nerdy new way to build a boob tube -- it's resulted in a couple of the best televisions ever tested. The contrast and brightness are right in there with the best plasma has to offer, but LaserVue's extensive color gamut just blows away other technologies -- for a price, of course.$6,999 - Shop for Mitsubishi LaserVue 65-inch Jaeger LeCoultre AMVOX2 DBS Transponder - We know it can be hard at times to rid yourself of excess briefcases of cash, but maybe Jaeger LeCoultre can help. They've built this excessively expensive watch for the sole purpose of unlocking an Aston Martin DBS (he does have an Aston Martin DBS, right?) at a 10-meter range, and will be perfect for making those cigar club buddies of his incredibly jealous. If none of this sounds remotely affordable, perhaps he might go for a Bluetooth watch -- he'll still love you. Probably.~$40,000 - Sign up at Jaeger LeCoultre For her Apple MacBook - Admit it, you're considering buying yourself a new MacBook this holiday and then re-gifting your hand-me-down to the girlfriend. Don't do it. If she knows you half as well as we do then she'll understand your supreme sacrifice upon unwrapping a new unibody MacBook. Besides, once she gets bored making four-fingered gestures its yours for the taking.$999 - Buy from Apple Ultra Motor A2B electric bike - You want mad points? Give her a bike for Christmas, just like when she was a kid. The A2B isn't just any bike, though -- it's an electric assist bike with a full suspension that'll run for 20 miles on a charge at 20mph. Sure, she'll look a little goofy around the squares, but she'll be the star of the next Critical Mass. $2,599 - Buy from Ultra Motor Nikon D90 - Come on, everybody's doing it. So take advantage of the holiday season to get in on some of that hot, amateur film action with your she-lover. No green tint, no sub-VGA resolution -- just sweet 720p HD video produced by a 12.3 megapixel Nikon DX CMOS sensor and your choice of SLR lenses. Remember, Nikon targets this at "advanced amateurs" for a reason. Besides, if the goods ever end up in court as part of a divorce settlement -- it's her camera, her idea.$1,299 - Shop for Nikon D90 For son Blackbird 002 - An HP gaming PC may not have been at the top of many wish lists in the past, but that changed when the company went all out with its Blackbird 002 rig, which is now actually available at a few retail stores for those last-minute shoppers out there. You're also in luck if you're ordering online, as HP is offering a special config that it's actually calling the "Ultimate Stocking Stuffer" for just $2,299 until December 31st. $2,299 and up - Buy from HP Optimus Maximus - There were times when it seems that the Optimus Maximus would remain on our permanent wish list, but Art Lebedev finally managed to get it out the door and, while not the most practical keyboard, it certainly impresses. The word? Good for gaming and Photoshop, but you may want to skip it if Junior is writing his Great American Novel. $1600 - Buy from Art Lebedev Segway PT i2 Ferrari Limited Edition - Really. It's a Ferrari Segway. How can you go wrong?Around $10,000 - Buy from Ferrari For daughter Motorola Aura - It's exclusive, expensive, and high-end. It boasts a 16-million (yes, million) color circular lcd, a 62-carat (yes, carat) sapphire crystal lens, and a 2.0 megapixel camera, all in the most attractive package Motorola's ever graced us with. What more could your tech-savvy princess ask for? Just be sure you get her the real thing -- a cheap knockoff really won't do.$1,999 - Buy from Moto Store Philips 42PFL5603D 42-inch 1080p LCD TV - Yes, this is truly a giant television to buy for your daughter, but she will inevitably think you are the greatest parent in the entire universe if you do. At least for an hour.$1,199 - Buy from Dell Wacom Cintiq 12WX 12.1-inch tablet / Photoshop - Is the girl on your list always doodling? Drawing all over your walls or precious sports memorabilia? The Wacom Cintiq tablet might be the gift (or deterrent) that you're in search of. The 12.1-inch, 1280 x 800 display is large enough to provide a useful workspace, but small enough to be portable and sit comfortably on a table or lap. You'll definitely want to tack Photoshop on to this purchase, of course, and really kick those creative impulses into high gear. Only the worst daughter in the world would spurn such an extraordinary gift.$999 - Buy the Cintiq 12WX from Wacom$699 - Buy CS4 from Adobe For mom HP TouchSmart IQ800 series - If you're willing to spend a little more cash, however, we'd say the TouchSmart is the way to go. The friendly, touch-enabled media and internet apps will have Mom actually using her computer for more than forwarding chain emails, and who knows -- you could actually look forward to getting those service calls.$1,749 - Buy from HP Solar-powered SunTable - Sure, it's not cheap at $3,600, but if Mom spends any time on the deck, she'll be all over this solar-cell table, which can power a laptop for four hours on a three-hour charge. You'll have to act fast, though -- only 50 are being made.$2,200 - Buy from SunTable Honda FCX Clarity - If your mom is a big time geek, seriously cares about the environment, lives in the Torrance, Santa Monica or Irvine area, and makes a habit of putting her friends to shame with her worldly belongings, this is pretty much the end of the line. Honda's revolutionary fuel-cell-driven FCX Clarity is about as sweet as they get in the eco-friendly car field, and with a limited number of them available, it's also quite the status symbol. There's a waiting list right now, so if you bag this one for mom, you're definitely her favorite -- no matter what she tells your siblings.$600 monthly (3-year lease) - Buy from Honda For dad Canon EOS 50D - Know what dad needs to match his mid-life crisis? A mid-range DSLR. While the gym won't work any miracles at his age, at least he can upgrade his old Canon body to a new 50D. Sure, you can give the EOS 5D Mark II instead, but everyone knows that a man with a shiny new sports car (and girlfriend to match) can't be trusted with 1080p video.~$1,400 with kit lens - Shop for Canon EOS 50D Ovei home theater pod - Take a second and imagine your pops in the Ovei home theater pod. The air-conditioned capsule is meant to give him a completely immersive gaming or theater experience... for $75,000. Really though, it's the least you can do for the man after he paid your college tuition without even once demanding that you work fast food.£50,000 - Buy from Ovei Pioneer KURO PDP-6020FD plasma - Look, we know it's hard. Not everyone can say "I love you" to their fathers. So why not show him that love instead with the magnificent 60-inch KURO PDP-6020FD plasma from Pioneer. Even your heart doesn't get this black.~$4,000 to $5,500 - Shop for KURO PDP-6020FD Lenovo's ThinkPad X200 Tablet - Feel free to laugh all you want in private, but in your father's company, you should at least humor his claims that the Tablet PC is the next big thing. Certainly the X200 with that stubborn ThinkPad design is the perfect gift for a man who's held onto the dream since late 2000. Just be sure to toss in the optional 12.1-inch multitouch LED panel -- who knows, by the time Windows 7 is released, your father might actually be right. $1,844+ - Buy from Lenovo Tesla Roadster - It's fast, it's silent, and it makes pretty, young debutantes swoon at the sight of the Silicon Valley blowhard who drives it. We're talking about the all-electric Tesla Roadster of course -- what better way to tell your mother that her marriage is over?$109,000 - Reserve from Tesla For colleague Dell Precision M6400 Covet - For those employees looking to really reward their hard-working co-workers, we can't think of many machines more well suited for the task that Dell's appropriately named Precision M6400 Covet mobile workstation. Sure, it'll run you just south of four large, but it pretty much ensures he / she will come to your wedding with oodles of loaded up gift cards.$3,859+ - Buy from Dell Drobo + DroboShare - Never mind that you know exactly what kinds of dark, decadent interoffice love letters will be redundantly stored on this thing, the point is to make your colleague happy. And look, giving him / her the assurance that those steamy quips won't vanish forever if the boss confiscates the company computer will undoubtedly make a lovestruck co-worker immeasurably jovial. For better or worse.$1,198 for the pair - Buy from Drobo CineMassive OmegaPlex - Nothing says "job well done" quite like 27.6 million pixels across a dozen panels. Or a $12,995 present. Incredibly, you can gift someone with something that fits both criteria in the gargantuan CineMassive OmegaPlex. We don't reckon we need to clue you in on what you could do with 7,860 x 3,600 worth of resolution, but let's just say you'd never have to look at overlapping Excel sheets ever again.$12,995 - Buy from CineMassive For enemy Epson Hello Kitty laptop - This underpowered $1,533 machine with a one-hour battery life would be a terrible present even if it didn't have some of the worst Hello Kitty art we've ever seen stuck to the lid, but you know what? It's got some of the worst Hello Kitty art we've ever seen stuck to the lid.$1,533 - Shop for Hello Kitty laptop Honda Walking Assist Device with Bodyweight Support System - Yes, there are many people out there who'd be absolutely thrilled to receive Honda's latest walking aid out of love -- but pretty much everyone else will just look like a giant fatass who needs a robo-wedgie to help them walk. Bioscleave House - Let's be honest -- if you hate someone enough to buy them a wacky $2m art house with an undulating floor and off-kilter windows designed to keep occupants "on guard" at all times to "maintain equilibrium," you probably need to spend the money on a vacation.
Holiday Gift Guide: $251-500
For him Dell S2409W - Everyone knows it's impossible to get anything done without three or four large LCDs to distribute IM and audio visualizer windows among, and Dell's HD-friendly, 24-inch S2409W fits the bill nicely. The 1080p resolution and HDMI input make it perfect for doubling as a bedroom Blu-ray playback display or for plugging in his Xbox 360 -- there are certainly higher quality 24-inch displays out there, but it's hard to beat the price. $349 - Buy from Dell Mio Knight Rider GPS - It doesn't matter if he has zero navigation devices or a dozen, he wants this. The Mio Knight Rider GPS does a particularly average job at being a useful navigator, and a particularly awesome job at using the iconic voice of KITT to gently guide you through turns. And yes, those lights flash when it talks. $250 - Shop for MIO Knight Rider GPS Sony Reader PRS-700 - While overshadowed by Amazon's Kindle, Sony's most recent e-book is packed with features that might appeal to his inner-nerd. Most notable of these is a touchscreen display for text entry and annotation, and an LED "reading light" for sneaking his Calvin and Hobbes comics under the covers sans flashlight and Superman cape. $400 - Buy from Sony For her Sony Rolly - Yeah, no one knows what it's for, or why it's even here -- but Sony's Rolly music bot is damn cute, and you can bet that none of her friends are getting one this Christmas. And isn't that all that matters?$399 - Buy from Sony Amazon Kindle - If she's a reader the Kindle might well change the way she thinks about books and magazines forever -- and if she's not, well, the Kindle might get her to start. Couldn't hurt to throw in a gift card for the first couple books either -- Whispernet makes racking up the credit card bills awfully easy.$359 - Buy from Amazon Canon Powershot G10 - If she's outgrown the compact point-and-shoot you got her last year but doesn't want to deal with the size and hassle of a DSLR, Canon's Powershot G10 is worth a look. It's got loads of manual adjustments and high-quality optics that'll have her channeling her inner Annie Liebowitz in no time. Plus it's built like a tank, so it'll survive no matter where she takes it.$499 - Shop for Canon PowerShot G10 Vera home automation system + unlimited service - Yeah, this one's really geeky, but if she's serious about greening up, the Vera Z-Wave / 802.11 hub will let her monitor, measure, and control lights and appliances from all over the world -- just be careful, Randy, because it also supports remote security camera viewing.$400 - Buy from MiCasaVerde For son MSI Wind U100 - Junior may be a bit disappointed if he was hoping for a tricked-out gaming system and wound up with this instead. If he already has a Crysis-capable rig, though, he'll no doubt be more than pleased to finally hop on the netbook bandwagon, especially with one of the most popular and capable models out there. The fact that it also recently seen some pretty significant discounts certainly doesn't hurt things either.$349.00 - Shop for MSI Wind Imported Nintendo DSi - You may have to work some magic to get one in time, but if you do, you can be sure that you're little or not-so-little one will overjoyed at getting Nintendo's latest handheld months before his friends. Just make sure he's not too attached to his collection of GameBoy Advance games, as Nintendo's decided to make a clean break with the past in order to make way for some of those newfangled features.$250-$300 - Shop for Nintendo DSI Zune 120GB Gears of War 2 Edition - Alright, so it may not the best choice for the budding Apple fanboy in your house, but if your kid spends more time in Horde mode than he does on his homework, he'll probably flip for Microsoft's latest custom Zune, which not only looks good on the outside, but comes pre-loaded with more than enough Gears content to keep him occupied on the next road trip.$280 - Shop for Zune Gears of War 2 Edition WowWee Rovio - It's still hard to go wrong with a Robsapien or one of WowWee's many other robotic creations, but the company's new Rovio sentry bot is certainly one of its most impressive bots to date, and it'll no doubt have you itching to try it out yourself before wrapping it up. Just don't blame us if your dog or cat never look at you the same way again. $300 - Shop for WowWee Rovio For daughter Sony VAIO Wi-Fi Photo Frame - We're pretty sure she'll be transfixed for hours looking through photos of her friends and family with this truly attractive, 7-inch digital photo frame. If you're feeling particularly creative, you could always pre-load it full of photographs of cats with hilarious captions -- that brings the laughs at any age, in our opinion.$299.99 - Buy from Sony Style Kota the Triceratops - This prehistoric plaything is definitely going to take up a lot of space, and it might give the family Chihuahua the creeps (what doesn't?), but other than that, we're looking at 100 percent herbivorous ceratopsid dino-cuddling action. As far as we can tell, you really can't go wrong with this gift -- as long as your daughter is under the age of oh... say, 30.$269.99 - Buy from Playskool Logitech Squeezebox Boom - The Squeezebox Boom seems like one of those gifts you may really be stoked to receive, even though you didn't know you wanted one in the first place. With a built in amp and speakers, this WiFi-enabled tabletop radio will have a serious dance party raging in no time -- though we doubt people will be cutting a rug to anything from Red Carpet Massacre-era Duran Duran. $299.99 - Buy from Logitech For mom ASUS Skype AiGuru SV1 videophone - Despite all odds and grooming habits, you've actually grown up to be quite handsome, so let Mom check in on her little snookums with ASUS's Skype-approved AIGuru SV1 WiFi videophone. The 7-inch screen will let her soak in your charming smile, but the 800 x 600 res is low enough to let you skip shaving for a day if necessary. Just make sure you clear all the beer bottles and empty whippits out of the frame before picking up, alright?$259 - Shop for ASUS AiGuru SV1 Videophone Parrot Andrée Putman digiframe - So you've decided to punt and give Moms a digiframe. It's okay, we've all been there. Class up your callousness by giving her Parrot's sexy Andrée Putman-designed frame. The 7-inch, 720 x 480 display isn't gigantic, but this is definitely one of the better-looking frames out there, and that counts big with El Madre.$450 - Shop for Parron Andrée Putman digiframe Navigon 7200T GPS - Navigon doesn't really do the deep geek features, but that's not necessarily what's going to interest Mom -- on the other hand, the widescreen 4.3-inch touchscreen with Reality View and Landmark View 3D displays should get her safely to that efficiency in the outer boroughs you've been calling a "penthouse" for the past six months.$399 - Sony Cyber-shot DSC T700 - Your mom might remember you being cute as a button during those awkward formative years, but from the pictures you were mostly dozing off, Blinky. Sony's 10-megapixel DSC-T700 adds blink detection to its facial-focusing system, firing off another shot when it notices closed eyes to keep everyone looking awake. Add in eleven scene modes, ISO 3200 sensitivity, and 4GB of internal storage, and Mom'll be taking her best photos ever. Too bad her subjects can't comb their hair and put on a tie for just this once.$379 - Buy from Sony For dad Sony's BDP-S550 - The HD DVD format is dead and HD over broadband is still in its infancy -- Blu-ray sits somewhere in between just like dear ol' dad. So if you've got the cash, why not gift the man a Sony BDP-S550 with BD-Live, 1GB of storage (and USB for more), and 7.1 channel analog outs. If he gets the hint, then you can kick back with the extra-large 1080p panel he'll likely buy before you return home for Spring Break. $350 - Buy from Sony Numark's TTi turntable - Give the guy a break, it's not easy for dad to make the jump from analog to digital. This might help: Numark's TTi, a turntable that rips vinyl straight to the iPod without any kind of PC futzing up the process. It'll also rip direct from vinyl to PC/Mac if 2001 technology still makes his ears bleed.$250 to $300 - Shop for Numark TTi For colleague Sling Media's Slingbox PRO-HD - It's common knowledge that no one around the office talks about, but we all like to keep a small window of TV streaming in to dull the pain of being locked in a cube for eight (or more) hours by The Man. To that end, there's hardly a better gift for your fellow cube-dwellers than the Slingbox PRO-HD. Hey, it'll even save you a few vacation days during March Madness.$299.99 - Buy from Sling Media Archos 5 - Believe it or not, there's a decent chance your colleague will find a need for a PMP with an expansive screen, inbuilt WWAN and portable PVR capabilities. And even if he / she doesn't actually need those niceties, we dare you to find a co-worker who wouldn't gleefully accept it. $349.99 to $449.99 - Buy from Archos ZeeVee's ZvBox - Given just how much internet TV your buddy to the left consumes during the day, don't you think he / she would appreciate a simple way to do so on their television at home? ZeeVee's localcasting box is the cure for the common lack-of-a-HTPC -- just make sure you're giving it to someone with technical prowess.$499 - Buy from ZeeVee For enemy Meizu M8 - So close, and yet so far. Want to be doubly annoying? Hand it over and then immediately start lecturing about how deeper codec support actually makes the M8 far superior to the iPhone instead of just a late, overpriced KIRF. Everyone loves when you talk about that forever and ever.$?? - Shop at one of Meizu's retail stores Crystal Icing - Everyone secretly wants their expensive gadgets aggressively bedazzled, right? We recommend something with dragons, flames or skulls, like a flaming dragon skull. Go with your douchebag gut.Prices vary - Buy from Crystal Icing Inkjet printer (any brand) - It's loud, it's clunky, the drivers are minimally functional and they'll be paying through the nose for ink until they break down and just buy a whole new one. There's nothing like an inkjet to say you sort of secretly hate someone.Prices vary - Buy from whatever bastion of big box commercialism your enemy hates the most.
Holiday Gift Guide: $501-1000
For him Dell Inspiron Mini 12 - While most netbooks sport impossible small screen sizes to match their impossibly small price tags, Dell's Inspiron Mini 12 boasts only the latter. The performance is hardly a boost over traditional netbooks, but he'll get a lot more done on the 12-inch, 1280 x 800 display, and it's still small enough to simplify a trip to the coffee shop -- or act as a small projectile in a heated debate over that prime 9pm TiVo slot. $549 - $649 - Buy from Dell TiVo HD XL - Speaking of TiVo, the HD XL is really a gift for the whole family, since its gargantuan 1TB hard drive makes room for 150 hours of HD recording, and you can even add an external drive if you find that too limiting. Really, can you ever have too many stored episodes of Friends? We think no. $599 - Buy from TiVo Sanyo Xacti HD1010 - The budding YouTube auteur in him will love this incredibly portable HD video camera, especially once apprised of the 300 fps slow-motion video this thing is capable of. It shoots 1080i video, 4 megapixel stills, and while that might not be enough to help him crash Sundance next year, it should make watching his lipsync video to "Womanizer" a bit more bearable. $600 - $800 - Shop for Sanyo Xacti HD1010 For her Vivienne Tam HP Mini 1000 - Do you know what the biggest problem with netbooks is? They look like netbooks: dull, boxy, and too thick at the waist... not an image you want associated with your lady-friend. While you may not know who Vivienne Tam is, rest assured she does. In fact, she'll be so impressed by this special edition HP Mini 1000 that she might not even notice your inane chatter about the Atom's superiority to the VIA C7-M.$699 - Buy from HP Dell Crystal 22 monitor - If she's looking to get some serious Photoshop work done, you'd best steer clear of this ultra-glossy display, but if she's more interested classing up the joint than pushing pixels, it's hard to beat Dell's Crystal 22 LCD display for style.$999 - Buy from Dell 32-inch LG Scarlet LCD TV - Let's be honest, after a few months years of dating, the television becomes the nucleus of any dysfunctional relationship. So do yourself a favor and spring for a new 32-inch Scarlet TV for you hipster, urban digs. She'll be reminded all weekend long of your good taste while loafing about distracted from the unpleasant considerations of child rearing. Win, win.$800 - Shop for LG 32LG60 For son Casio EX-FH20 high-speed camera - If your kid is really looking to get into photography he may be better off with an entry-level DSLR, but any would-be Mythbusters in your household will be besides themselves when they realize this little camera will let them capture their own Mentos experiments at 1,000 frames per second. As a bonus, it'll also let 'em take regular videos at 720p and, of course, some decent enough still pictures as well. $600 - Shop for Casio EX-FH20 Philips HTS8100 soundbar - It may not be a replacement for a dedicated speaker system, but it sure is a heckuva lot easier to fit into a bedroom or dorm room, and it'll certainly pump out some better sound than any TV's built-in speakers. As a bonus, it's now also readily available for a couple of hundred bucks less than its initial $1,000 list price. $500-600 - Shop for Philips HTS8100 PlayStation 3 160GB Drake's Fortune bundle - It's not the bargain the Xbox 360 now is, but he probably has one of those anyways -- and he's no doubt been itching to play Little Big Planet and some of the other increasingly enticing PS3 exclusives out there. Who knows? He might even let you slip the occasional Blu-ray onto it.$500 - Shop for PS3 Drake's Fortune bundle For daughter Dell Studio Hybrid Desktop PC - If your daughter's the kind of girl who likes to repaint her room to fit her mood or match her outfits, but she's also an environmentally conscious PC-user, this could be a match made in heaven. The Studio Hybrids -- which boast WiFi and HDMI options as well as wireless mice and keyboards -- make economical use of space, and are pretty easy on the eyes, too.from $449 - Buy from Dell Vicious and Divine Swarovski Laplace Webcam - A perfect gift for only the fanciest people in your life, the crystal coated webcam laughs in the face of understated glamor -- then kicks it, sprinkles some Swarovskis on it, and makes friends with it. Regardless, the 2 megapixel photo and 1.3 megapixel video resolution -- plus those 1,350 crystals -- make this the perfect gift for the uber-luxury crowd.$504 - Special order from Speed-Link Canon Rebel XSi DSLR - If you're hoping to foster the development of the next Annie Leibovitz, this 12.2 megapixel camera is a snazzy option. A serious DSLR that's also newcomer-friendly, the Rebel XSi is not cheap -- and it's going to run you extra to tack on those two optional telephoto lenses that she'll definitely want if she decides to forego the high road and become a papparazzo. from $640 - Shop for Canon Rebel XSi For mom Plexidoor RFID-activated doggie door - Yeah, it's a doggie door that costs nearly a grand depending on how you configure and install it, but it'll stay closed for all but your pooch -- keeping Mom a tiny bit safer now that you've abandoned her for the big city. Are you willing to put a price tag on Mom's safety? Yeah, we didn't think so.$500+ - Find a dealer Sony VAIO JS all-in-one PC - Sure, Mom's a PC, but that doesn't mean she loves wires everywhere. Sony's got her covered with the VAIO JS series, which neatly packages a 2.20GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, and an integrated facetracking webcam behind a 20.1-inch XBrite LCD. Oh yeah -- and you can get it in pink.$999 - Buy from Sony For dad Garmin GPSMAP 620 - So, your father summers in The Hamptons and takes Christmas on Tortola? Perfect, the Garmin GPSMAP 620 is the only GPS navigator he needs. On the road, the 620 provides all the turn-by-turns, POIs, and proximity alerts you'd expect. Slip it into the marine mount, and Dad can navigate the yacht to his beach-side landing with an assist from both ariel and underwater 3D views. It also features an IPX7 waterproof rating which we assume has something to do with resistance to rum.$1000 - Buy from Garmin Nokia N85 - Come on, the N85 isn't just another cellphone, it's a multimedia computer as Nokia likes to say. Hard to argue given the N85's 2.6-inch AMOLED display, GPS, 5 megapixel cam, N-Gage gaming support, 8GB of removable microSDHC storage, WiFi, and enough power to drive 28-hours of audio before needing a recharge. And if you're buying it in the US, your father is almost guaranteed the exclusivity amongst his friends and colleagues. That's worth something, right? $552 - Buy from Nokia Panasonic HDC-SD100 - Got yourself a new half brother or sister thanks to daddy's new wife? Sweet, then pops will like nothing more than a new camcorder that matches the experience he's gained video taping the lives of a handful of kids now grown and gone from the house. The Panasonic HDC-SD100 records 1920 x 1080 video in AVCHD format while offering your old man plenty of the manual controls he now craves from a camcorder. It also features excellent low-light shooting capabilities to capture both newborn moments and whatever moments he, and his trophy wife might consider fit to record to SD cards.~$900 to $1,300 - Shop for HDC-SD100 For colleague 500GB Sanho HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA - There are photo backup devices, and then there's the Sanho HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA. Of course, we can only wholeheartedly recommend giving this to colleagues who are looking to make that amateur shooting gig into something more substantial, but we can pretty much wager 1 in 5 corporate drones have such a scenario in mind.$549 - Buy from HyperDrive Dell M109S DLP Projector + 40-inch screen - So, here's the quandary. You're all about some after-hours Halo action, but you're not down with bringing the kit each time. Solution? Gift your dearest team member with this hot, hot combo and let him / her do the hauling. No one said this had to be altruistic.$619 - Buy from Dell LaCie 2.5TB 5big Network - Just like everyone needs more fruitcake, socks and underwear, everyone needs more storage. Really, it's a fact of life. That said, you can't go wrong with LaCie's 2.5TB 5big Network, which should certainly stay well below capacity until you give him / her the same box next year for half the price and twice the room. $899.99 - Buy from LaCie RIM BlackBerry Bold - Being that you're out shopping for a colleague and all, it makes sense to get him / her a replacement mobile that's geared for business. Thankfully, the Bold isn't a half bad personal phone either, and we hear it even makes you Usain Bolt-like for the first few days of ownership. No guarantees on that one, though.$549.99 off contract - Buy from AT&T For enemy Blackberry Storm tattoo - True story: at the NYC meetup last week, the room filled with loud boos whenever the Blackberry Storm was mentioned. (Listen for yourselves here.) Personalize that experience for your best frenemy by inking them up -- bonus points if you tell them you're shelling out for an iPhone and pull a switcheroo.~$501 (includes free Storm) - Buy from Mystic Impressions Tattoo Studio: "4 years in business with 0% infections reported!" MP7 phone - MP3? MP4? Screw that -- drag your giftee kicking and screaming into the future with the MP7 phone. They'll be far more understanding about the need for open formats in no time.$599 - Do you really care enough to track one down? Palm Treo 800w - Palm's on the verge of unleashing an entirely new OS and line of handsets at CES this year -- so why not shackle your "friend" down with a two-year contract on some chubby last-gen hardware?$250 with contract, endless monthly payments - Buy from Palm iTreo 800p - Boss always yapping about how he'd get an iPhone if only it had a QWERTY keyboard? Shut him up forever with this abomination -- if you can actually manage to find one.
Holiday Gift Guide: $51-100
For him Shure SE102MPA - What's a better stocking stuffer (or nice thrifty gift) for the gadget geek we all know than a decent pair of new earbuds? Shure, a company widely respected for delivering pristine audio, has priced its SE102MPA headset kit at something approaching totally affordable. The pair is a bundle of the company's SE102 buds and MPA phone adapter cable, which makes these great for PMP or smartphone duty, and they're sound isolating -- which is a big plus for train rides, gym visits, or just good, old-fashioned "me" time. $99.99 - Buy from Shure Logitech Harmony 510 Remote - We're all looking for a little more control... right? If you know a gentleman who is constantly shuffling between remotes, the Logitech Harmony 510 might be just the thing for you. With a spacious, intelligent layout, LCD screen, Harmony controller software (which lets you program activities on your computer and upload them to the remote), and a copious quantity of buttons, it should be perfect for getting his digital world under control. And with this price tag, it won't destroy your financial world, either.$99.99 - Buy from Logitech Microsoft Arc Mouse - If you're trying to find something unique and cheap, Microsoft's quirky Arc mouse might be just the ticket. The 2.4GHz wireless device sports a mighty 30-foot range, laser tracking, and can be easily folded up and slipped into the included carrying case. If the dude in your life isn't somewhat stoked to have such an odd looking (yet useful) gift bestowed upon him, you'd better schedule a doctor's appointment.About $60 - Shop for Microsoft Arc mouse For her Wii Fit - No, seriously -- it's really fun, and anything that gets the both of you off the couch in general is a good idea. That's right: the both of you. Front like you don't also need a little extra exercise when you give this one and it'll just be you and your Mii by New Year's.$89.95 - Shop for Wii Fit SteelSeries WoW gaming mouse - Sure, it sucks to know that you're outranked by the Lich King, but nothing says "I care" to your favorite mage like a 15-button programmable mouse with an in-game config utility. Just don't expect to hear from her for a couple days after she opens the box.$99 - Shop for Steel Series WoW Gaming Mouse AT&T Quickfire - Smartphones may get all the attention, but there are a ton of nifty QWERTY featurephones on the market this year, and AT&T's Quickfire is one of the best-looking of the bunch. The 2.8-inch touchscreen rotates automatically when you slide it open to reveal the keyboard, making texting love notes a snap. On another carrier? Check out Verizon's LG env(2), T-Mobile's Samsung Gravity, or the similar Samsung Rant on Sprint.$99 - Buy from AT&T For son Liquid Image underwater digital camera mask - Kids and family vacations typically don't mix, particularly when you're dealing with hard-nosed gentlemen. But with this camera-loaded mask, you can coax even the most defiant alpha male into tagging along on a family snorkel excursion -- and who knows, he might actually snap a few photos good enough to show to gramps upon your return. Do it for love, do it for parent-son bonding.$99.95 - Buy from Hammacher Schlemmer Takara Tomy AeroSpider - Hardly a holiday season went by when we boys at Engadget didn't receive some sort of remote-controlled vehicle. Sadly, Takara Tomy's wall-climbing AeroSpider wasn't available back in the 20s, thus we never had nearly as much fun as the Earthling you're unquestionably peering at above. Bottom line: how could you not want your son's face to light up like that when unwrapping one of these?$51+ - Shop for Takara Tomy AeroSpider Meggy Jr RGB - There's really nothing like a little challenge to show your son you care, so if you're looking to discretely keep his brain from crumbling over the break, there's hardly a better gift than the Meggy Jr RGB. It's one of the most programmable handhelds we've seen, and if your youngster can actually figure out how to code his own game for personal enjoyment, is there really anything he can't do? Hooking up with the opposite sex notwithstanding, obviously. $65 to $95 - Buy from Evil Mad Science For daughter Elmo Live - What could be cuter than Elmo? How about Elmo busting out a cool, kid-friendly rap? Hailed as the "most innovative and engaging Elmo toy ever," Elmo Live dances, sings, jokes around and makes movements that "give kids the feeling that Elmo is alive in their own homes." If that weren't enough, after the kids are asleep he loves nothing more than kicking it with the parents. Apparently Elmo's quite a pool player -- and he's been known to make a mean Tom Collins. $60.00 - Buy from Fisher-Price Aly & AJ Guitars for Guitar Hero and Rock Band - If Guitar Hero or Rock Band is your daughter's bag, isn't it time she had a controller as sassy and stylish as she is? Designed by Radio Disney mainstays Aly & AJ, either of these guitars are sure to be a big hit all year 'round. Rock on! $49.99 - Buy from PDP Bio Energy Discovery Kit - Do you have a young scientist on your hands? If so, the Bio-Energy Discovery Kit might be right up her alley. The kit demonstrates alternative fuel cell technology by generating electricity from ethanol (eg: vodka), using it to power a fan for days on end. Whether or not the kit is actually the "fuel cell industry's first direct ethanol product," is anyone's guess, but it does seem like a shoo-in for her next science fair. $99.99 - Buy from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies For mom Roku Netflix Player - We already recommended getting her a Netflix subscription, but if you think your mom is unlikely to hang around the computer to watch movies, you'd be remiss not to toss in a Roku Netflix Player in with the bundle. The simple-to-use box can stream those Netflix Instant Watch movies sans computer, and should start to play nice with other content providers soon. $99.99 - Buy from Roku Aliph Jawbone - Sure, she might already have a Bluetooth headset, but odds are it's not nearly as attractive as Aliph's latest Jawbone headset. This piece of "ear jewelry" isn't just about looks, though, boasting some of the best noise cancellation on the market, so you'll hear her loud and clear the next time she rings you up to ask why you never call. $94 to $100 - Shop for Jawbone Peek - So you've failed to convince her of the necessity of a smartphone, but she's still hopelessly tied to that desktop computer to manage her plentiful email correspondences. Perhaps you can meet her halfway with the Peek, an email-only handheld designed with ease-of-use and simplicity in mind. It's attractive to boot, but don't think you'll be the favored child just because you set her up with one -- that $20 a month service fee won't pay itself. $99.95 - Buy from Peek For dad Ion Audio SLIDES 2 PC - Look, your dad isn't a young man. He knows what slides are... in fact, he probably has a few spools laying around somewhere. Why not help ease him out of those wastes of space with the Ion Audio SLIDES 2 PC -- a device that will help him convert those precious, ancient memories into a handier digital format. Trust us, he'll thank you when he can toss that mildewy box in the basement.$79.99 - Buy from Ion Audio Belkin FlyThrough laptop bag - If you've got one of those fathers who's been busting his hump on business trips, here's a way to make his experience a whole lot easier. Instead of having to lug that laptop out of its case every time he hits a TSA checkpoint, he can keep the computer (and his sanity) in the same spot. Trust us, you can't miss with this if your dad is the traveling type.$59.99 - Buy from Belkin Nike+ SportBand - Just because the old man is, well... an old man, it doesn't mean that he's not keeping in shape. You'd be hard pressed to find a better (or more useful) piece of exercise tech than the Nike+ SportBand. This should help keep track of his workouts while remaining an unobtrusive part of the process. Just be careful if he challenges you to a race -- he's faster than he looks!$59 - Shop for Nike+ SportBand For colleague HDD Stage Rack - If they seem to spend more time rummaging around under their desk with a half-disassembled computer than actually working, they might appreciate this HDD Stage Rack, which allows for "plug and play" usage of internal 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives over USB 2.0 and eSATA connections. Then again, maybe they like it under there.$71.65 - Buy from Geek Stuff 4 U Steelseries Ikari Laser mouse - Sure, it might say "gaming mouse" on the label, but you know what else takes exceptional eye-hand coordination and can benefit from on-the-fly adjustable sensitivity and ultra-accurate tracking? Excel.$70 - Shop for SteelSeries Ikari Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint headphones - Yeah, whenever you tell him to turn down that Alanis Morissette -- and to please stop singing along -- he readily complies, but 15 minutes later you're faced with the same situation and life just doesn't seem worth living anymore. Maybe these can help. They're comfortable enough that it shouldn't be too much to ask him to wear them, and if he just won't comply you can ask to "borrow" them and bask in the magic of noise cancellation -- and that Sarah McLachlan mixtape you've been dying to play yourself.$90 to $170 - Shop for Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 For enemy Fake iPhone - We don't know how much one of these costs, or where you can possibly get one, but by all means: if you have someone you really, really want to diss this holiday season, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a fake iPhone. This one, in particular, seems to have a real (albeit 1st-gen) iPhone casing, although it lacks innards or the ability to do anything beyond turn on. All the better for your not-beloved, right? Imagine the disappointment!$?? - Somewhere in Russia. HD DVD player - Yup, any HD DVD player will get the job done. While you're at it, maybe throw in an HD DVD copy of Battlefield Earth to seal the deal. Oh, that's right: you can't get Battlefield Earth on HD DVD. Your cruelty will be truly, undeniably on display with this one.$55-$100 - Shop for HD DVD players Scale Mouse - It's a mouse, but also a pocket scale. In our opinion, most senseless hybridizations of devices result in super awesome gifts for people you can't stand, but this one is surely a standout example of pointlessness. And yes, it also adds insult to injury if the enemy you're buying for has chubby hands. $59.95 - Buy from American Weigh
Holiday Gift Guide: $101-250
For him LaCie Neil Poulton eSATA drive - Perhaps you know someone who's a perfect storm of incredible nerd and rampant minimalist? If said individual also happens to require a pile of storage for their collection of Herzog films and Harmonia bootlegs, the LaCie Neil Poulton eSATA hard drive should be just what the doctor ordered. The sleek black box is available in all sorts of capacities, but if you really want to show how you feel, nothing less than the 1TB version will do. $199.99 - Buy from LaCie BlackBerry Storm - Okay, as we said in our review, RIM's new BlackBerry Storm isn't for everyone -- but there are whole bunch of guys you know who probably really, really want one. If the target of your gift giving this year is already a Verizon customer, there's few handsets you could get him that pack in more features (or more cool). With a beautiful 3.25-inch touchscreen, GPS, EV-DO Rev. A, and that patented BlackBerry email / messaging on board, handing this over come holiday time should provide you with a whole year's worth of thank-you's.$199.99 with 2-year contract - Buy from Verizon Popcorn Hour A-110 - As any good geek will tell you, a media player can never handle too many formats. The Popcorn Hour A-110 streamer is a perfect cocktail of flexibility and affordability, allowing the guy you're getting this for to watch or listen to just about any kind of file you can throw at it. Add in support for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives, HDMI 1.3a (with DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD output), three USB ports, component outs, S/PDIF audio, and a heaping mess of server and web services, and you've got a veritable tech explosion on your hands. So, uh... watch where you point this thing.$215 - Buy from Popcorn Hour For her iPhone 3G - Speaking of smartphones that get all the attention, this one's a no-brainer if she doesn't need to copy and paste, send and receive MMS messages, or run apps that Steve hasn't personally approved. Yeah, everyone knows what the iPhone can't do by now -- but a lot of what it does do it does better than the rest. Trust us, she won't be angry to find one in her stocking.$199 - Buy from Apple Flip Mino HD - There's something about the Flip that makes people actually take videos -- and the newest model will let your sweet little Scorsese capture her precious memories in pretty decent high-def. Just make sure you're ready for how cloying your sqeaky-voiced babytalk sounds on tape, Snuggles.$229 - Buy from Pure Digital JVC NX-PN7 Dual iPod / iPhone speaker dock - So you and your lady both have iPhones, but only one of you gets to charge up in the alarm clock at night? That's not fair and you know it -- which is where JVC's surprisingly brilliant dual-dock speaker system comes into play. It's the simplest idea, but it works a treat to reduce clutter -- and it's awfully cute when you both plug in at night with differently-colored light strips. Awww. (You'll have to rely on your iPhone's built in alarm to wake you up -- it'll play through the speakers, so it's loud, but check out iLuv's iMM173 if you want more traditional alarm clock features.)$149 - Shop for JVC NX-PN7 Dual iPod / iPhone speaker dock Western Digital My DVR Expander (or any DVR-compatible external hard drive) - Let's face it -- when the chips are down, it's your shows that are getting deleted off the DVR to make room for Grey's Anatomy. Not to worry, though -- newer DVR's from DISH Network and TiVo can take advantage of external hard drives like Western Digital's 500GB My DVR Expander to record an additional 60 hours of HD content -- too bad you can't jack in another tuner or four.$149 - Shop for Western Digital My DVR Expander For son Guitar Hero: World Tour complete band game - A faux drum kit engulfing the den, or a real set of skins consuming the garage? Your move, pop. Having experienced this quandary first hand, we can definitively say that you'll regret the former option the least, meaning that your sanity is likely safer with the fake instruments in the abode. Not to mention this is infinitely less expensive than an open-ended trip to Guitar Center.$179.99 to $189.99 - Buy from Red Octane Sling Media Slingbox SOLO - Placeshifted content and component jacks go together like tea and crumpets, and Sling's Slingbox SOLO will fit equally well under your son's stocking. Oodles of functionality -- STB control, passthrough outputs and support for incoming HD signals -- for a price even you can appreciate. How did we grown-ups actually enjoy TV on the TV again? $179.99 - Buy from Sling Media T-Mobile G1 - While your special ladyfriend might be busy downloading all sorts of apps onto her iPhone 3G, we suspect a certain kind of inquisitive son would enjoy spending a little quality time with Android. For even less than Apple's darling, your dear John can wield (and tweak) the world's first Google-powered smartphone. And that's saying something, daddy-o.$179 - Buy from T-Mobile For daughter Motorola ROKR E8 - No handset is all things to all people, but if a musicphone is in your little girl's future, you might want to take a good look at the ROKR E8. Featuring vibrating haptic "keys" and a bright and crisp QVGA screen housed in a glossy black shell, the phone certainly holds its own in the looks department. And while 2GB of flash storage (not including the microSD slot) won't put her iPod out of business, it'll certainly kill time during Saturday detention.$149.00 (with service contract) - Buy from T-Mobile iPod Touch - What can we say about the iPod Touch that hasn't already been said? What can we write about the iPod Touch that we haven't already written? Nothing. $229.00 - Buy from Apple Speakal iPig speaker system - What do you give the girl that's got everything? As in, really, truly everything? How about the iPod docking iPig, a unique speaker system that offers 360-degree sound distribution, a 4-inch subwoofer and adjustable bass controls. In a plastic pig. It's your call whether she'll find it adorable or atrocious. $139.99 - Buy from Speakal For mom Audiovox DPF711K Homebase Digital Message Center - Sure, you don't want to pigeon-hole her as a domestic, but she likes to keep track of the fam, and Audiovox's DPF711K is one seriously great bit of tech to help her do that. Surrounded by a decidedly low-fi whiteboard, the Digital Message Center has a 7-inch display for displaying photos, and audio recording for leaving memos. You can even record video messages with the premium version, using the built-in camera. Just don't "forget" to give it to her -- we know you want. $120 to $180 - Shop for Audiovox DPF711K ColorWare her favorite gadget - While completely lacking in practicality (just like flowers, hugs and most other things your mom really wants from you), offering to have her favorite gadget spruced up by the folks at ColorWare is a great way to say you care. We'd recommend letting her pick out the color scheme, however, because we're not certain her glowing opinion of your kindergarten artwork qualifies as knowing "exactly what she likes." $65 and up - Buy from ColorWare BlackBerry 8820 - If she's ready to make the jump to a smartphone, but she finds the iPhone's lack of buttons intimidating or the G1's OS a bit rough around the edges, she might find the BlackBerry 8820's streamlined, advanced email experience to her liking. $99 from T-mobile, $250 from AT&T For dad Toshiba XD-E500 - Look, the man is attached to his DVD collection, and there's nothing wrong with that. Your father may not be so hip to getting a whole new batch of hard media at this stage in his life, so why not ease him into HD with the XD-E500. This low-price-point, upscaling DVD player should be just the thing to bridge that gap -- allowing for dad to still enjoy the collection he has, while gently nudging him towards a high-def future. He'll thank you someday.$83-140 - Shop for XD-E500 Canon Powershot SD880 IS - We've already established that the man likes to take photos -- but he may not be as technically inclined as some (say, yourself). In that case, the SD880IS is the perfect choice -- nice, juicy megapixels (10 of 'em!), plus a super easy interface make this a solid selection come photo-snapping time. C'mon, the kids won't hold that pose forever.From $234 - Shop for SD880 IS Eye-Fi Explore - It's a no brainer, right? If your dad is the more adventurous type, he probably likes to get out there and mix it up. What better way to handle all the photos he's taking then the Eye-Fi Explore kit. The 2GB may not be tons of storage, but the Skyhook geotagging will ensure that he not only gets the picture, but remembers where it was taken. At this price, you'd be a fool not to spring for it.$129.99 - Buy from Eye-Fi For colleague Nanovision MiMo UM-710 - You can never have too much screen real estate, but sometimes you run out of physical desk to hold it all. Nanovision's MiMo UM-710 can fill that one remaining gap in your colleague's desk with seven glorious inches of productivity, and since it plugs in over USB there's no extra video card to worry about.$130 - Buy from The Gadgeteers Verbarius electronic clock - Sure, they've got a clock on their computer, their phone -- even the photocopier they walked past ten seconds ago -- but for some reason they're ever-so-curious what your opinion on the time might be. The Verbarious tells it to them in plain english so you don't have to: "thirty-one past noon" instead of your garden variety "12:31." You can switch between English, German, Spanish, French and Russian to spice things up further.$199 - Buy from Art Lebedev SteelSeries 7G keyboard - Everybody loves to feel productive, but ever since your interoffice basketball league started drug testing, those performance-enhancers just aren't going to do the trick anymore. Luckily, the SteelSeries 7G has some of the clickiest, clackiest keys this side of the 90s, which makes even the most mundane of IMs feel like Pulitzer-worthy prose. Another "gaming" accessory that's really better suited to the office, the keyboard's 18K gold-plated mechanical switches put that cheesy came-with-the-computer keyboard of yours to shame. Keep this one for yourself.$103 to $149 - Shop for SteelSeries 7G For enemy Celio REDFLY - Oh, the REDFLY... the Windows Mobile equivalent to Palm's (intelligently) abandoned Foleo gets right to the heart of what you're trying to say: I dislike you enough to get you this expensive, terribly unexciting, and borderline useless companion for your WinMo device. Hey -- at least their phone will have a friend, right?$229 - Buy from Celio Solid Alliance 2GB USB Skull Ring - This is a distinctly non-holiday-spirit-inducing gift sure to underwhelm or horrify the recipient. Unless your enemy is Lemmy Kilmister, you probably can't go wrong with this "gift."$206 - Buy from Geek Stuff 4 U CherryPal Cloud PC - "Hey, I got you this really great PC by CherryPal! Yeah, I've been hearing great things about it for years -- it's not out yet, but I pre-ordered it for you. You'll be one of the first to own it!" That's right -- CherryPal's been promising this one for ages, and it's not likely to appear anytime soon, so if you want to really let someone down, just tell them you got them this doozy. It's pretty likely they'll be waiting a long, long time for the gift to materialize.$249 - "Buy" from Amazon (Warning: woefully, eternally "out of stock")
Holiday Gift Guide: $0-50
For him Hori Wii Classic Controller - If the guy you're buying for has a stack of GameCube titles that just don't get the exercise they should thanks to the Wii's overbearing presence, this might help things. Hori's gamepad sports a near-Cube shape, which will mean it's mighty familiar, but also tacks on a whole host of autofire dip switches, for when things get really sticky in RE4. How can you say no to this baby blue? Answer: you can't (well, if you can it also comes in black and white).$29.90 - Buy from Play-Asia Belkin Mini Travel Surge Protector - This little surge protector / USB charger looks a bit boring and obvious at first glance, but it'll be the first thing he tosses in his gear bag for that next trip. There's room enough on here to charge up a camera, camcorder, laptop, phone and iPod all at once, or perhaps a pair of heated USB slippers, a USB fan and a few strings of Christmas lights. We won't judge.$20 - Shop for Belkin Mini Travel Surge Protector USB webmail notifier - We're guessing that the "for him" in question here is a serious email junkie (we're using ourselves as a model, of course). If that's the case, you might want to turn your attention to the USB mail notifier. It's pretty basic -- the box lights up when you've got a new piece of mail while a robotic voice says "you've got mail" -- but the gesture is huge. It's like you're saying, 'Hey, I know your email is more important than me or the children.' And that means a lot.$17 - Buy from USB Geek For her Tamagotchi Connection V5 - Alright, so maybe you're not ready to commit, but that doesn't mean you can't raise some bouncing virtual baby pets together. The V5 ups the ante from a single 'Gotchi to a whole herd, letting your special lady experience the unrelenting challenge of managing "different personalities, tastes, and hobbies." Just the thing to warm her up to your secret second family in Omaha.$14.99 - Shop for Tamagotchi Connection V5 Moshi Interactive Voice Response alarm clock - If you're sick of being the target of your lady love's wake-up wrath every morning, refocus her anger on Moshi's voice-controlled alarm clock. No buttons, just a calm electronic voice that responds to "Hello Moshi" and can reliably inform her of the time, temperature and whether or not she looks good in those jeans (yes, she does).$49.95 - Buy from Moshi Perpetual Kid iPod building block speakers - A tiny iPod speaker dock that looks like a Lego brick? Yeah, she'll flip. Plus you can always borrow it to finish off your amazing Lego dance party diorama.$22.99 - Buy from Perpetual Kid For son LapWorks Gamers Desk - Right, so Junior's clearly not shaping up to be the athlete you always imagined him as. Got a problem with that? Rather than trying to mold him into someone he's clearly not, why not urge him to be the best at what he is: a couch potato. LapWorks' Gamers Desk brings the mouse / keyboard to the sofa, eliminating the need for a separate bedroom entirely. He'll love you for it. Probably too much.$39.95 - Buy from LapWorks Skullcandy Metallica Lowrider headphones - So your boy didn't get in the college that you attended, huh? If you're still looking for a way to live vicariously through him, why not set him up with a set of these? You loved Metallica. He'll love Metallica. The only difference is the level of genuineness (and the length of hair).$49.95 - Buy from Skullcandy Penguin United Quad Wiimote charging station - Regardless of whether he's shipping off to the university or just to 8th grade, your all-too-popular son is going to throw a few parties. Rather than contributing to his keg fund, your dollars are probably better spent on this quad charger, which will keep four Wiimotes fully juiced whenever the urge hits to slap in a round or three of Smash Brothers. You'll thank us one day.$44.99 - Buy from Penguin United For daughter WowWee Flytech Tinker Bell - Thanks to the wizards at WowWee, Tinker Bell is no longer confined to the TV (or movie) screen. By far the cutest of radio control toys, your daughter is sure to get a kick out of hovering this thing over the dinner table and dive bombing her older brother this holiday season. She can buzz around for 4-minutes on an 18-minute charge, and 'Bell is suitable for kids aged 6 years and up.$39.99 - Buy from WowWee Super Kid 4-Port USB Hub - Never before in history has being a kid involved so many peripherals: from PMPs to printers, and from webcams to flash drives, things can get rather complicated for the well-appointed tweenager. That's why we heartily recommend the Super Kid 4-Port USB hub. It's functional, because it's a USB hub, and it's fun, because it's shaped like people! Oh, and it's cheap. Real cheap.$12.00 - Buy from gadget4all.com Estée Lauder TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara - Makeup technology is advancing in leaps and bounds every day -- that's why we were so excited when we saw the new vibrating, battery operated mascara applicators from Estée Lauder. If anything, we're shocked that it's taken western science this long to devise an applicator that vibrates at 125 micropulses per second. If your bundle of joy is becoming a woman who's serious about her makeup, you know what you have to do... $32.00 - Buy from Estée Lauder For mom Five month Netflix subscription - If a Netflix subscription wasn't already a great gift, the recent addition of free, unlimited online streaming -- now on the Mac and PC, with support for plenty of other devices -- should clench it. Your mom will have access to thousands of her old favorites (whether those be Paul Newman or 80's sci-fi, we won't judge) and she can always queue up a Blu-ray or DVD of new releases. $45 - Buy from Netflix Apple iPod shuffle 1GB - Colorful, easy to use and completely lovable. A 1GB iPod shuffle is the perfect "workout" music player, with enough room to let her run through a few of her favorite albums sans the complication and heft of a full size music player -- plus you might not even need to stick around the house an extra week teaching her how to use it. $49 - Buy from Apple iPosture - Face it, nobody ever was so aware of the importance of good posture as your mother, and now you can return the favor with the iPosture. After a quick calibration, the little gizmo detects if the wearer is slouching, and vibrates as a reminder to straighten up, teaching the user to live in fear of slouching. Just hope she doesn't decide to re-gift it right back. $49.95 - Buy from iPosture For dad 16GB SDHC card - Your dad is probably the guy who's always busting out the camera to capture those moments most of us are too lazy to think about. Thanks to him, you've got family photos and irreplaceable memories. Help the man out come gift giving season by throwing a hefty memory card his way. Current 16GB SDHC cards can be had plenty cheap, and with that kind of storage, he can probably snap straight through to next year's holiday bash.From $23 - Shop for SDHC cards Brando cooling pad / dock - We don't know about you, but our dad loves his laptop. He's always busting it out while we're hanging for a little casual web browsing. If you're a good son / daughter, you'll want to protect the man's lap from possible burns (or worse) with this Brando cooling pad. Bonus? It doubles as a hard drive dock and USB hub, thus letting the man do more of what he likes best -- compute -- with greater ease.$33 - Buy from Brando Microsoft Zune Pass - Your dad loves music, okay? You may not want to hear it, but the dude is definitely jamming out to The Dead, The Doors, or (depending on his age), some good old Frank Sinatra. Hey, for all you know, he's really into Pantera. Regardless, give him a gift that will help indulge his tastes -- just don't be surprised if your mother starts asking for a set of earplugs.$14.99 a month - Buy from Zune For colleague Haute Diggity Dog iBone - If your co-worker has an iPhone and a dog, they'd probably be thrilled at this oh-so-modern chew toy. If they don't have an iPhone or a dog, they'll probably take this the wrong way. Your move.$11.95 - Buy from Haute Diggity Dog Lite Blue TOOL - Oh yes, you're undeniably jealous that she's rocking a PSP-3000 in the break room while you limp along on your first-gen model with that little nick in the screen, but deep down you feel sorry for her: she's never known the joy of homebrew. This Lite Blue TOOL could solve all that, making hacking a later-gen PSP a breeze. A few shared ISOs later and... is this love that you're feeling?$30 - Buy from Code Junkies Solo CheckFast Netbook Mini messenger bag - Your jet-setting colleague slimmed down to a netbook and a phone months ago, but since he's still stashing them in that ghastly messenger bag of his, he's not really reaping the true rewards of traveling light. The Solo CheckFast Netbook Mini bag is designed to TSA's specifications in order to breeze that netbook through security without ever taking it out, and is specially fitted to 11-inch and under mini laptops.$25 to $35 - Shop for Solo CheckFast Netbook bag For enemy Punk Skull Belt Buckle - Your disdain for the person you're shopping for surely won't match the disdain he or she is bound to meet with once sporting this skeletal beast, it's that simple. Part fashion faux pas, part multimedia overload, this LED / MP3 player is sure to let your special, special friend know just how you "feel" about them. $50.75 - Buy from Inesun.com Awethumb - This one's basically like a kick in the teeth, without the mess or icky violence. The Awethumb will make the same point -- "I don't like you and you're awful" -- without breaking the bank, either. Designed for heavy texters to give some relief to their thumbs and ostensibly make typing "easier" on a QWERTY keyboard, we're pretty sure it (they?) fails in both respects. But you know, we give it a "thumbs up" on making people look like asses.$11.98 - Buy from Awethumb Scosche reviveLIGHT - An iPod charger / nightlight doesn't sound like a completely terrible gift, until you get a look at Scosche's take on the concept. It's ugly, it's clunky, and to be honest, a little steep for what you get! So, yeah, perfect for someone you don't like at all. Just be sure to not give them a receipt -- we wouldn't want any returns lightening the load around your enemy's abode.$39.99 - Buy from Scosche
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for him
Hey, look. We know what it's like trying to buy a gadget or some other related piece of technology for the man in your life. It's scary, and weird, and you never know if you're doing the right thing until it's too late. But that's where Engadget (and our Holiday Gift Guide) comes into play. We take all the guesswork out of this experience so you can sit back, kick your feet up, and let the thanks just roll on in.Of course, if you're simply trying to figure out what you want to beg, cry, and gently ask for this year, think of this chapter as a kind of cheat-sheet for the forthcoming festivities. Read on to get the scoop.Update: Due to overwhelming demand, we've added a $0-50 category -- you can expect to see these for all the guides.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide, 2008!
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We know as well as anyone what a ridiculous mess it is shopping for tech gifts for your family and friends, especially when you tack on the crowds, the traffic, and hearing Jingle Bell Rock 80,000 times. Sure, it seems like you've got an infinite number of options to comb through, but with our Holiday Gift Guide we're aiming to simplify that gadget gift giving experience and pinpoint a most excellent present for just about anyone.Here's how we do our thing: the HGG is actually a series of smaller guides broken down first by whom you'll be buying gifts for, and then by price range. Today we're starting with him, easily the most discerning gadget giftee; in a few days we'll go to her, then son, daughter, dad, mom, and so on. The guides will be collected in a landing page which can be helpfully sorted by price and recipient (which will be up soon). We'll publish a new guide every few days through Christmas, so you'll have plenty of time to shop around online and in stores, and we do suggest you check out all the guides -- especially since you never know when you'll find something you want for yourself.Enjoy, and happy holidays!
Engadget Holiday Gift Guide 2008
Here's a helpful breakdown of our categories from the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide. If a link isn't active, it means we haven't published that guide yet! As you can see, you're able to view full recipient groupings, as well as all products separated by price point. Enjoy, and happy shopping! By price By recipient $0-50 For him $51-100 For her $101-250 For son $251-500 For daughter $501-1000 For mom $1001+ For dad For colleague For enemy
